The invention relates to the technical field of apparatuses for dispensing paper wipes made of cellulose wadding, creped paper, or suchlike material, intended more particularly for wiping the hands of users, to the dispensing of toilet paper, and to the dispensing of paper towels. The pieces of paper may be in folded or unfolded form.
The Applicant has developed many patents on apparatuses of the above type in automatic and semiautomatic versions, and dispensing of strips of paper taken from a loading reel.
The main components of such an apparatus will be briefly recalled. An apparatus for dispensing wiping material numbered as a whole by (1) comprises a housing (2), a cover (3), a drum (4), a cutter device (5-6) built into the drum and drum cocking and returning means incorporating a crank (7) and a spring (8). In its upper part, the housing is fitted with side plates (2a) capable of receiving the reel holder (9) of a reel of wiping material (B). These side plates may be of fixed positions, in which case the reel of wiping material is suspended above the drum. In a variant, the side plates or arms of a reel holder are jointed and mounted on the housing in such a way that the reel of wiping material comes into contact with the drum itself.
Such arrangements are very common in this sort of apparatus. The way the user pulls on the strip of paper can vary greatly with a larger or smaller force, to say nothing of the direction of the pull which can be an additional factor in the operation of the dispensing apparatus. Loops can then appear between the reel of wiping material and the drum involving a length of some centimeters of the strip.
In order to remedy this problem, the Applicant as developed anti-looping devices, notably in patent FR 2,643,808. These anti-looping devices make use of rotating lever assemblies mounted with respect to the reel holder and able to produce a pivoting action in order to reduce or compensate for the looping phenomenon and tension the strip of material. Such assemblies work very satisfactorily but tend to interfere with the loading of the apparatus, being face and in the front plane of the reel of material.
There is also another problem with the cost of the molds necessary for producing the anti-looping device. Despite all the precautions, it is also possible for several strips of material to be dispensed.
The object according to the invention was therefore to remedy these problems by proposing a better solution that would not inconvenience the user when assembling and loading the apparatus.
In accordance with another object of the invention, the Applicant has adopted a technical concept which can, in its principle, be used both for apparatuses in which the loading reel is suspended on the supporting side plates, or the reel rests on the drum by virtue of the pivoting of a reel holder with jointed arms or side plates.
In accordance with a first characteristic, the apparatus for dispensing a wiping material, of the type comprising a housing, a cover, a drum, a cutter device built into the drum, and drum cocking and returning means incorporating, arranged on a lateral side of the drum, a crank and a cocking spring, the side plates being constructed to support the reel holder, is noteworthy in that it comprises an anti-looping device for preventing looping of the material coming from the reel of material including at least one mechanism acting on the reel holder to lock it in position, this mechanism being arranged on one of the side plates of the housing, and being actuated by a flyweight device built into the movement of the rotating drum and either causing or not causing the reel holder lock to be operated in the case of application of a large tensile force on the strip of material.
These features and others also will become clear in the remainder of the description.